Thanksgiving

Cooking up some Thanksgiving goodness!

Asen & I making the green bean casserole

Emmaus helping with the deviled eggs

Amanda mashing potatoes!

The yummy spread. We had all the traditional foods, turkey, sweet potato casserole, dressing, and pumpkin pie for dessert!

Lh@s@

The Pot@la Palace

this was the winter home of the D.L. before he fled the country

Tib. ladies getting ready to climb the 555 steps (yes, we counted) to the top of the pot@la

Monks practicing their debating skills. They can get pretty lively, one monk will ask a question and then do this dramatic hand clap/slap thing indicating that it is another monks turn to answer.

Me & Corrie

Pilgrims prostrating at the main temple in town. Tib. will often prostrate at temples or while walking certain routes as a way of atoning for their wrongs in hopes of being reincarnated as something better in their next life.

Making a House a Home

It has been about three months now since I moved into my house and I can now say that it feels like home. Getting it furnished and curtains on the windows helped immensely in this process. It has also been great to have a place that I can come to at the end of a language filled day and rest my very tired brain!

My Bedroom

My Guest room, that anyone is welcome to stay in should they ever find themselves in my neck of the woods!

My Office, many hours of studying have been passed here

My Living Room

Living Room again, that's the kitchen at the far end

My Many Travels

It has been a while since I have updated this blog but if you keep reading you will see that I have been quite busy trekking about the country. My first trip took me, and three teammates, to three different cities whose populations are predominately the ppl group that several of the members of our team a focusing on. We spent 10 days traveling through some very beautiful, yet very dark areas. In each city we met some great people and even got to share some of the good news with one family. On my second trip I went with two teammates to a city south of us. We went partly for a mini vacation, but mostly to go shopping at Ikea for our new houses. Speaking of houses mine is close to finished now. It is now fully furnished and I am ordering curtains this weekend so pretty much all that is left is decorating, and my little brain is still working on ideas for that. But more about that in my next post, here are some pictures from my travels.

These first two are pics of the largest pile of mani stones in the world. Tibs. will carve a mantra/pr on the rocks and then bring them to holy places and pile them up as a way to gain merits in hopes of being reincarnated as something better in their next life.

More mani stones in a river

One day we hired a taxi to take us around to all the different sights in the area and on the way up a 14,000 ft. pass his car couldn’t handle it’s six passengers so some of us had to get out and hike part of the way up until he came back for us. It more than once literally took my breath away, but we got to take in some beautiful scenery and a few yak fights.

Another thing they will do to gain merit is hang pr flags from the high places around where they live

This is a pr flag designed by a friend from my company that has a pr to our Father on it. It is now tied among many other pr flags at about 13,000 ft. in one of the more remote regions of this country.

Pr flags on top of a mountain

One day after we hiked up a mountain these four local boys running up to the top. They were a lot of fun and were very eager to share their little sugar feast that they had brought along with us. And of course being as well trained as we all were we accepted what was put before us. So after consuming what at the time seemed like every sugary creation ever invented we were hyped up and ready for whatever adventures they brought on. Including...

wrestling

hunting hawks

and swimming in the frigidly cold river.

One day while exploring a monastery we met this nun. As soon as she saw us she called us up and wanted to take pictures with us and then took us into her home and served us tea.

Our new friend in front of her house, which is actually just a room

These last several shots are just some of the beautiful scenery that we saw

Views Around Town & My Birthday

The North Gate of the city

Some of the mountains that surround our city

Taxis waiting in line for their daily fill-up

The University where I will be taking classes starting in September

The front gate of the University

My awesome birthday candle that sings

That is a dog in the middle of all the flowers, because I was born in the year of the dog

Me and some of my new teammates, the crown comes standard with every birthday cake

6 Days and the Past 6 Weeks

The past six week have led up to what is sure to be a crazy six days. Why? Because in just six days, June 23rd, I’m moving to East Asia!!! The past six weeks have been full of some doubts, a lot of wonder and awe at how He works things out and of course some fun times with my family.

I admit there were times when I doubted that things were going to come together, which led to doubts of “is this really what I am supposed to be doing?” But these times always ended with me being gently reminded that yes this is what I am supposed to be doing and that the one who asked me to do it is going right along with me. There have been just as many times that I have been amazed at how He has met my needs and provided everything I need in order to take this next step.

I have enjoyed some fun times with my family, including a road trip to a cousin’s wedding with my Mom, Dad, two sisters and seven month old niece, all in the same car. On the same trip my mom and I also walked about half a mile down an Arkansas highway to retrieve a hanging bag of clothes that had blown out of our car-top carrier.

Me and my Grandparents after the wedding

We also took my niece to the Dallas Arboretum one afternoon, she was quite the trooper and performed well for the camera.

Here It Is

I have resisted joining the Blog world for a while now, mostly because I didn't think that I had anything worth posting that people would want to read. I don't have kids, I'm not married, and I don't lead a very exciting life. But since I am about to move half way around the world my little sister convinced me that this would be a good way to keep people updated. So keep an eye out and I'll keep you posted.